Contributed by: JeloneJelone(others by this writer | submit your own)Published on May 15th 2012Ya'll know how splits work. Two bands come together, crank out a couple tunes and hopefully win over some ear holes. West Chester, Pa.'s NONA and Boston's Peeple Watchin' are yet another duo of acts to honor this ancient punk tradition. Let's discuss.
NONA cultivates a sound reminiscent of early .

Ya'll know how splits work. Two bands come together, crank out a couple tunes and hopefully win over some ear holes. West Chester, Pa.'s NONA and Boston's Peeple Watchin' are yet another duo of acts to honor this ancient punk tradition. Let's discuss.

NONA cultivates a sound reminiscent of early Green Day and the Ergs! (only with lady vocals). These tunes are fast â??n' sugary pop-punk. Lyrically, they cover topics that at simultaneously hyper specific and universal. "Yep, A Yardsale" is about how much it sucks when people leave shopping carts in parking lots. Because it does suck! Stop doing that, people of Chester County. "Candy Bar Overlord" is about being bored at an ice cream parlor job. "No We Haven't" is arguably the weakest track, to the extent that it covers posers, and there have been a lot of punk songs on this topic. Still, all three tracks are solid pop-punk fun.

Which makes Peeple Watchin' come off as super earnest by comparison. Their tunes deal with homophobia and gentrification, and how being white can in turn feed into those problems, and how it's all a perilous cycle, and oh dear oh my. Still, the tracks have that Gainseville punk rock with a dash of melodic hardcore thing going, so props. Extra props for knocking out two LGBTQ-friendly tracks.

Musically, NONA and Peeple Watchin' are pretty similar. It's the great divide between their songwriting topics that makes flipping this a little jarring at times. Still, both bands contribute good songs here, with hopefully more to come.